Transcripts For CSPAN Governors Polis Whitmer Hutchinson Testify Before House Energy ... 20240712

Capacity, reopening guidelines, and what the federal government can do to provide further assistance. Difficulties,al this is a portion of the subcommittee hearing. Thank you for the invitation to testify. Thank you, chairwoman. If done a tremendous job in this crisis and beyond. Thank you, Ranking Member guthrie. It is great to see you in this capacity. And rankinghairman member and members of the committee. I want to provide an overview of the steps we have taken in colorado with the hope that some of the successful practices weve implemented here can be an example for other states, the federal government, and other nations dealing with the coronavirus. We started with realistic goals. We knew it would be impossible to eradicate the virus in theredo or america until is a vaccine. Our focus from the start has limitingtabilize by the spread, protecting the most vulnerable, supporting our Health Care Providers, making people received on Covid Health Care and doing everything we can to provide personal and being as smart as we can with the limited resources and making sure we produce the ability of that sosystem so not to overwhelm our health system. On the economic side, the tonomic implications of this help Small Businesses and workers and make Strategic Decisions about reopening, really taking into account the economic, psychological needs of coloradans as well as the holes health goals. We have found out that we likely had covid before that in our toe and we took actions limit the spread of the virus. Based on our modeling, we needed to limit the number of persontoperson interactions to 75 to 80 reduction from the normal baseline. The models the model showed taking no action, the virus would have killed 30,000 coloradans by now. We implemented to stayathome order that lasted until april 26. As business is profitable. It me greatly to see coloradans stuck inside. Monthlongt stayathome order was critical to build additional Hospital Capacity and acquire more testing and ppe for our workforce. Team witha response some of the best minds from the private sector who volunteered fulltime to help us work through the issues of the supply chain for testing and ppe. We connected a number of important measures to help individuals weather the economic storm, including shortterm paid sick leave for workers. Benefits fordcare frontline workers. Helping Small Businesses and individuals make ends meet by delaying something they have to pay on file, their income and property tax. The temporary moratorium on foreclosures. Taking common sense steps to lift regulations like eliminating the prohibition on take out and delivery of alcohol to help restaurants stay in business. We set up a private relief fund to meet the needs of coloradans across the state. We raised over 18 million from philanthropic, corporate, and individual donors. We convened an economic counlity and recovery cil. The bipartisan council already put forward recommendations for executive action, state legislation, and for federal consideration. I ask the letter to the colorado delegation be placed into the record and be considered. Governor, we will float that to the end with all the other documents. Thank you. As cases trended downward, we ended the stayathome order on april 27 and replaced it with safer at home. Safer at home allows for a greater degree of economic and social activity while keeping the infection rate low. Developing a mask wearing culture in our state to make persontoperson interaction safer, having coloradans with Underlying Health conditions stay home whenever possible, and greater social distancing among the general population. We extended this month more outdoor opportunities for people to enjoy our outdoors at a safe social distance with our beautiful colorado june and july weather. We encourage people to get out in a safe way. I have been straightforward and honest with the people of my state from the start that there will be some level of social distancing restrictions until there is a cure or vaccine. We need to find a Sustainable Way to live with covid19. I look forward to answering your questions. Now i am pleased to recognize Governor Whitmer for your opening statement. Chair,k you full house Ranking Member walden and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to speak with you about covid19s impact on michigan and how we worked to confront this unprecedented Public Health crisis. Representatives, thank you for your efforts on behalf of michigan. I am glad to be with you. On march 10, the day michigan confirmed our first cases of covid19, i declared a state of emergency. Michigan had a unique struggle with the covid19 pandemic because despite being the 10th most populous state, we had several weeks with the thirdhighest number of cases and deaths in the nation. As of today, we recorded 57,000 positive cases and over 5500 covid19 related deaths. We had to take aggressive measures to cut the spread of covid19 to prevent the rapid depletion of our states Critical Health care resources to lower the chance of a devastating second spike. There was a time in march when the number of metro hospitals lacked enough masks, face shields, gowns or gloves to last a single day. The federal government delivered several applications of ppe from the Strategic National stockpile, but they were dangerously insufficient to meet our needs in the early phase of the virus. On a call with the nations governors, we were told we would have to procure these items on our own. Without time to waste, we set up a Global Procurement arm. We tracked down every lead. Some were dead ends and some were deadbeat. In the heat of the nations early days and failure to produce ppe, lives were on the line that necessitated these actions. By mid april, the hard work of our Procurement Office and donations from michigan businesses and with the assistance from fema, the state had ppe to last for several weeks. That is true today. We are grateful for the materials we received, however if federal supplies could be allocated more quickly with a detailed breakdown in advance, we would be able to hit our goals and ensure we prevent a second wave. Absent a vaccine or cure, testing and tracing are the foundation of the covid19 response. In april our state averaged 5000 tests a day. Now we have reached almost 15,000 a day with our real goal being 30,000 tests a day. Despite progress we made, the single biggest threat to our ability to hit these goals is the supply shortages that continue to significantly restrict michigans testing capability. I know this is not unique to michigan. We need the white house to create a specific longterm plan outlining how the federal government will ensure adequate testing supplies so we can gather the data we need to make informed decisions about reengaging our economy. We would benefit from free testing nationwide coupled with a robust federal messaging campaign. The Economic Impact on state residents and government budgets by the coronavirus has been severe. We have now processed more unemployment claims in a single day than during the worst week of the great recession. We property reached the highest Unemployment Rate since the great depression. Right now the linkage in the cares act does not give us language in the cares act does not give us flexibility needed. A broader solution is needed. I am hopeful the Greater Congress can get it done. The covid19 pandemic has also highlighted the disproportionate impact on communities of color. Africanamericans are 13. 6 of our resident population, and yet represent a staggering 40 of deaths in michigan. The Lieutenant Governor of michigans first africanamerican Lieutenant Governor is heading up our racial task force, a task force dedicated in the memory of the youngest person in michigan to lose the battle with coronavirus at the age of five. Both her parents our first responders. We be engaged michigans economy. We need to make sure we reavoid a second wave of infections at all costs. We made incredible progress saving lives in michigan. Our state reopening plan is informed by the best Public Health experts in the country. I am glad to purchase a paid to tell michigans story. To participate today to tell michigans story. It is that story i am proud of. I look forward to our discussion. Thank you, governor. It is time for members of the subcommittee to ask questions. The chair will recognize herself for five minutes. Arent we going to hear from governor hutchinson . Im so sorry. A republican that i love because he is my colleague. Sorry, governor, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, madam chairwoman. I do recall our days serving in congress together. Ranking member guthrie, thank you for this opportunity. Myant to say hello and thank good friend for the invitation today and for his friendship through the years. Chairman pallone, it is good to see you again as well. I am delighted to be here with my fellow governors. Each one of us has faced challenges in our respective states. It reflects the uniqueness of each state and the decisions that have to be made. I respect every decision made by other governors that reflect in their state. Our fight against covid19 began on march 11 when testing revealed our first case in the state. I immediately declared an emergency from that day on. We took this seriously and took quick and appropriate measures to minimize the impact. We had a dual mission. Our First Mission was to protect the health of our citizens, especially those deemed to be most at risk. Our Second Mission was to minimize the economic harm to individual families, because it in sothem, it hurts them many different ways. Today we are in phase one of our recovery. 7500 cases in arkansas. Hospitalized. We have had 133 arkansans die of covid19. These hospitalized. We have had numbers that the otr governors will attest are minimal in terms of what we see in so many other states. Our hospitalization and death rate are low compared nationally and to our region. When it comes to testing, we are testing more each day. In late april, we were testing 1000 to 1500 tests each day. I set as a goal we would test 2 of our population in may, which would have been 60,000 arkansans. We exceeded that goal in may. We tested over 80,000 arkansans in the month of may. The testing has accelerated greatly. During the last seven days, our Positivity Rate has been at 5 . Over the last 30 days, it has been 7 , well below the National Standard recognized at 10 . Testne, our goal is to every resident and nursing home in arkansas, including all staff. Our testing is done through our combination of the department of health, university of Arkansas Medical Sciences, and in the commercial labs. The employers are doing and extorting a job of starting their own testing an extraordinary job of starting their own testing programs. When it comes to following up with Contact Tracing, when we started this pandemic, we had three nurses in our department of health responsible for contract tracing. Three. Today we have over 200 doing Contact Tracing. That is an important part of our infrastructure for handling the future in terms of a potential wave. The most frequent question i get asked is why did you not issue a shelterinplace order in arkansas . I respect every governor as to the decision they had to make. Our decision in not issuing a shelterinplace order was in combination with our Public Health team. We believe it was the right direction for our state. My Public Health team advised the stayathome order would not significantly through the split slow the spread of covid. A stayathome order would cost thousands of arkansans their jobs and force businesses to close permanently. Instead we doubled down on her message to encourage arkansans to follow social distancing guidelines, to wash their hands well and wear a mask in public. I trusted the citizens of my state to act responsibly, and they did. There are always a few outliers, but they have followed those guidelines. From the beginning we proceeded cautiously in our targeted restrictions on businesses. We calculated which businesses were more at risk. Been gradually lifting those restrictions. Our rates are among the lowest in the nation. Our hospitals have never come close to filling up. Our supply of ventilators is more than adequate. In terms of the private sector, i want to acknowledge their support. Walmart particularly helped us set up mobile testing sites across the state. Our poultry industry, which has havea challenge for us, begun their own testing within their plants. They engaged their own Contact Tracing, which was impressive that they dont simply rely on the government to do that. They provide paid time if quarantine is necessary. With that, we have over 60 processing plants in arkansas. None of them are currently shut down. People are working. In terms of the economy, we projected a significant loss of revenue to our state budget. We projected a 10 loss of revenue from sales taxes. Our economy has been stronger, andsuffered less of a loss, we are coming in at less than 5 of a loss in terms of sales tax revenue. Today we are issuing our revenue report that will show we are above our revised forecast, still down from last year, but we are beating the projections significantly in terms of our recovery economy. We look forward to having more success in the future. We have an Economic Recovery Task force that is going to be leading the effort. I have some leading arkansans supporting that effort. With that, i am grateful to tell a little bit of arkansass story and look forward to the questions from the committee. Much, governor. Now the chair will recognize herself for five minutes for questioning. Have a begin by saying we long history of examining pandemic preparedness. We had 11 hearings in the last 15 years in this subcommittee on pandemic preparedness. The most recent one, many of you recall, was on december 4, where we had many of the players who you see, including dr. Fauci and dr. Redfield and others come testify. These officials spoke candidly about the challenges we would face during a pandemic. Thes pretty appalled that federal leadership failed as dramatically as they did when we did get a pandemic because of all the assurances we had. Governor whitmer, in your testimony you stated the overall federal response on this front has been uneven. The uncertainty about the availability of supplies and the federal governments role in directing allocation of these supplies appended on our ability to coordinate our testing strategy. Could you collect you elaborate further on how the response impacted michigans ability to combat covid, particularly in the testing realm . Thank you for giving me the opportunity to flesh this out. I think uneven is the right word. We are truly grateful for the supplies we received. I want to thank fema and hhs and cdc. I want to say uncertainty about supplies and the federal governments role in directing the allocation of these supplies has undermined our ability to coordinate a testing strategy. In the early months of the pandemic, testing supplies were extremely limited. Information was scarce. The federal governments role in supporting testing was narrow. In may, we began receiving a significant number of swabs and transport media, which was a commitment from hhs and fema for over 300,000 and transport media. While we are appreciative, we are often given Little Information in terms of what that will be coming in. The information we are given is sometimes inaccurate about what types of supplies are sent. It has made our planning difficult. Supplies could be allocated more quickly. If we had a detailed breakdown of what was actually in the shipments, we could mobilize and ensure we could make the best use of these supplies and hit our capacity. We have a capacity to do 25,000 tests a day in michigan, but because we are lacking the fundamental pieces to do tests, we havent been able to achieve that 25,000 a day yet. That is the biggest concern i have. A question about the flu season. My chief medical expert in michigan is worried about flu ouron when it comes to ability to meet the needs. We talked about this on our delegation calls, but in your testimony you testified about how colorado was caught off guard by the conflicting messages and lack of support from the federal government as to what colorado would get. The most important thing is we can do better on the federal knowing whatency, we are going to get when. Consistency and transparency. Notleft does not with a no, with a yes. Are there going to be masks, delivery dates that were not met. Vague commitments without that transparency to know at this point in time, this is what you will get. We have to go out and purchase our own. If the federal government comes weough at a certain time, might have too much of something and not enough something else. We need all cards on the table. Everyone needs to know what they are going to get and states try to fill in the holes. You think that is the kind of plan we need looking forward to the fall and beyond. We would love where it is clear to the states what they will and will not get within reasonable parameters. No one is saying it has to be the exact same day, but when and what. Governor whitmer, would you agree with that . Absolutely. Thank you so much. Representative guthrie, you are recognized for five minutes. Question whyfirst you chose not to do statewide orders. I will skip to the second question. Alphabetically. At the beginning, dr. Fauci said we have to flatten the curve, we have to manage peak capacity. Until we get a vaccine, we will not have zero cases. A a call someone said it is difficult decision, shutting down parts of the economy. A difficult decision that could be harder is when to open up. We know there will be more cases until we get a vaccine. My question is, one of your colleagues on television, when they were expanding interactions, he was being criticized on television. Andaid i have 3000 cases 4000 empty hospital beds. There will be flare ups. What data does your state look for to determine if you cant reopen or retract . I will start with governor hutchinson. Very you look back to the beginning, it was about Hospital Capacity. Hospital capacity is not an issue anymore in terms of our 150someh less than hospitalizations. We needed to go back to doing elective surgery, to doing other procedures. We have done that in this state. It is about the number of cases. It is more importantly the Positivity Rate. It is the recovery rate and how many active cases we have. Those are the things we are looking at. The ultimate test is the deaths caused. We are fortunate to have a minimum number in arkansas. We have to manage this risk. We will go back and say all be shut down. We have to go into the fall recognizing there will be another wave, but we can go back to shelterinplace. We have to manage this risk through testing, through Contact Tracing, through social distancing until we get a vaccine. We are in phase one. We will wait until we open up more until we get successful data. Thank you. I want to make sure governor witmer gets a chance to answer. All governors share a desire to reopen as soon as possible as long as it is a sustained opening. Nobody wants to be in a situation where you have too many people together. People dont have events right now. There is a reason for that. If it would occur, it would lead to massive transmission of the virus. You want to do this in a way that h safety guidelinesas. Has safety guidelines. We opened in late april barbershops and salons. We made sure both parties were wearing masks. So far it has been a relative success story. We have not heard of transmission cases linked to them. Is as soon as possible in a way that does not have to be reversed. Thank you. Governor whitmer. Because there has not been a National Strategy, each of us has developed our own strategy. In michigan, it is called the my safe start. The vast majority of the state is in phase four. We look at the Positivity Rates, the capacity in our hospitals. Also working with the Business Community to develop protocols to mitigate risks associated with sectors of our economy. We need to continue to ramp up testing in lieu of a vaccine or cure. Ist is why getting supplies so crucial to avoiding the second wave. None of us wants to take a step backward. If we look at testing, i think it is important to acknowledge we have to be looking at diagnostic testing and not confusing serology testing with diagnostic testing. If there is a possibility we could use the defense production act to start producing gloves and things so critical to testing, that is what we should be using it for. You very much. I yelled back. Yield back. Thank theto chairwoman. I want to add two things. On whato double down you said about the federal supply chain and lack of National Testing. Ink theern is, i th democrats on the energy and Commerce Committee really do not trust the president to implement any National Strategy for the supply chain, testing, or vaccines. His constant effort to say it is the states responsibility i dont believe that. As democrats on the committee, we have tried in the cares act, now therim bill, and heroes act, to be prescriptive with National Uniform policy and transparency. Ask Governor Whitmer and Governor Polis, if you look wewhat is in the heroes act, have a supply chain czar. We require a National Chain of command. We have all kinds of transparency along the lines of what you said to make sure you know what is delivered, what isnt and when. In regards to testing, we would say there has to be national right now arkansas is a 2 goal. Rhode island is 14 . Book and travel from one state to the next. You have freedom of movement. Besay the testing has to nationalized. There are benchmarks. There are timetables. More detail. If you tell me what you think id like to ask a question about f map quickly. The testing is the thing we need more of nationally. In michigan, the things we are worried about are making sure we have the plants fixed, the reagents. These are critical components of doing this robust testing. Every Health Expert is telling us that we need it. We have seen debate about international manufacturing. These things have not been produced in the United States. That a National Strategy to ensure we have these test kits is the most important thing the federal government needs to take the reins on. Having states bid against each other for supplies has driven up the price and left us with serious holes in our National Policy. Just having the supplies on the front line is crucial. Governor polis, you particularly mentioned the fall. Im worried if we dont have a National Czar and National Policies in place with specific benchmarks and transparency, we will have the same problem with vaccines. Dr. Bright testified and basically said that. Would you comment on that, particularly as it relates to the next step of the supply chain . Have is important that we National Coordination on vaccine delivery or there will be a greater freeforall when we reach the unfortunate that fortunate date. The state plays a coordinating role. Supplies and testing is locally administered. I would like to see the federal government playing the coordinating role and the work is locally administered. We were thrilled that the heroes act set up a 14 f map increase. Absolutely critical for recovery. We increased it from 6 to 14 . Do you support that . Absolutely. We know the economic crisis will outlast the health crisis. Thank you both. Recognizes thew Ranking Member for five minutes. Thanks to our governors for your participation today. One of the things Going Forward is looking at nursing home deaths. Dealt with this issue differently in the early stages. That sent covid positive patients back to Nursing Homes. I think that happened in new dealt with this issue differently in the early stages. Thatyork. Each of you, how did you handle that with coveted positive covid positive nursing home patients . Did you have them go back to the Nursing Homes from whence they came . First, we would never send a covid positive patient into an environment in which they would expose others. In any congregants setting, whether it be a present or nursing home. Prison or nursing home. We would make sure the positive patients were totally separated from those that test negative. They would not be required to go back there. Our Public Health has done an extraordinary job of testing every resident whenever there is a positive case. Cms datarstand from that came out today, your rate of deaths in nursing home was 6 . I think colorado is 20 . Michigan shows up at 63 . Is there a different policy in colorado or michigan . Who are you addressing the question to . The state of michigan. Accurate not an measure. Is roughly what our number has been. People living in Nursing Homes in michigan and across the country have faced unbearable devastation from covid19. Like governor hutchinson said, we have taken efforts to ensure that residents, after being discharged with a covid19 diagnosis, that they are separated. Strict terms of what that looks like. No nursing home is required to take a covid19 patient. That was the right thing to do, have strict protocols for who can go into these aggregate care settings and prioritize ppe. Up a Residential Care task force in april to address these issues. The teams are working to ramp up testing of asymptomatic workers using the Colorado National guard and Colorado State university. We require every congregant Senior Health care facility in the state prepare an isolation plan and not require hospitalization. Cases have had to implement those plans, making sure there is a separate way and no roommates. The best way to prevent deaths in senior care facilities is prevent the virus from coming in in the first place. I will yield the remainder of my time to the gentle man from michigan. Thank the chair and thank the Ranking Member. It is good to see you, governor. I recognize we are all doing this for the first time. We are learning as we go. Up, being ranked fifth in the nation for overall homes, theursing most recent i saw from cdc, which was beyond what you put 654 patients who died and 12 Staff Members on top of that. Why did it take you so long to change the policy, not only of putting Covid Patients back in Nursing Homes, but also reporting . I believe it was this past thursday or friday you he began to report. It has been changed since then. Could you inform us why it took so long to report . What michigan experienced with covid19 is different than other states. We have such exponential growth just started we learning about how contagious the disease is. With the bestg of Public Health experts around the country. Every policy we instituted was informed by that data. A recognize in retrospect number of decisions we would have made some adjustment in. When it comes to the data, one of the inherent challenges with covid19 is people dont necessarily reflect on the death certificate that it is covid19. Other states have seen exponential reporting of pneumonia cases. A lot of health looks, those can be covid19 deaths. That is the inherent challenge. We have done remarkable things in terms of sharing information. I recognize the gentlelady from illinois for five minutes. Can you hear me now . Okay. I was informed of the first case on illinois january 30 by dr. Redfield. That is six months ago. Ee still have not bent the curv in the United States. 1. 8 million cases yesterday. Sunday it went up 26,000. Other countries have done better. I want to focus also on the hard hit Nursing Homes, the longterm care facilities. Doing they started promised release of information they gave two months ago and said 26,000 nursing home residents and workers have died. Media reports say it is closer to 40,000. In my home state of illinois, we know Nursing Homes account of over half of the confirmed covid19 deaths. In other places in the country, it is as high as 70 . It is unacceptable, the Racial Disparities in overall covid19 cases and fatalities also extend to Nursing Homes. Deaths among africanamericans and latinos in illinois and around the country. The covid19 crisis in our nations Nursing Homes is a national disgrace. We have not seen help from the Trump Administration. They have failed to publish data until the beginning now, ensure access to testing, and coordinating the distribution of ppe. Heroes goingnk the every day to work and are challenge they face in those Nursing Homes, the fact that they go to work every day. I have been in Constant Contact with my governor, who is doing his best. Governor polis and governor beener, how have you taking care of longterm residents and Health Care Workers . From theou need federal government . It seems that is an Important Role for them to play. I could get answers from Governor Whitmer and Governor Polis. Thank you congresswoman. Are grappling with how we do a better job keeping people in congregate care, especially people we know are susceptible to covid19. Inlieu of a National Policy terms of Nursing Homes, in lieu of the robust testing supplies we need, it is incumbent on the nations governor to ensure we have a handle who is coming in and out of congregate care facilities, setting a higher standard of getting every Single Person tested so we are able to isolate. That is the key in lieu of this vaccine and cure. Everyd like to have nursing home patient tested regularly with a plan to give them paid sick leave so they dont feel compelled to go into work if they or someone they know has any symptoms of covid19. That is one important piece of it. About two thirds of our outbreaks in colorado have been at congregate care settings for the elderly. We appreciate the effort of the federal government to deliver ppe to certified Nursing Homes. Certified Nursing Homes is 226 in our state. We have about 1000 senior congregate care facilities. The equipment is only going to a sub classification of the total number of places that older coloradans live together. We are rapidly stepping up the testing of asymptomatic workers. If you test a worker and they are negative, it is only as good as that day and time. We would love to be testing workers once a week to prevent infections from reaching senior care facilities. We need help with supplies and continued testing. Thank you, governor. Recognizes mr. W burgess for five minutes. You need to unmute. That better . You bet. I kind of like it on the mute. I thought you would. Ouruld like to thank governors. Governor polis and i sit on the rules committee. It is less exciting without having you there. Acknowledge to governor hutchinson from your neighboring state of texas, i am related to arkansas from texas. My wifes people are from Prairie County. I can answer whatever order you prefer. The difficulty with getting the up to a level where testing was sufficient, early days the cdc was only putting out single time whereests at a the requirement was many times that. The impact of the delay the cdc had on the diagnostic tests in your state, i am interested in hearing from you. Thank you and come back to Prairie County anytime. First, there has been a lot said of the role of the federal government. Early on the supply chain was weak, but it has gotten stronger. Nationithin 90 days our ramped up its reagents production. I have confidence in the supply chain built up over the private sector and through cdc. In terms the federal standards, i look at the cdc guidelines and i think they have been helpful in setting National Standards for how we reopenand we r eopen and do gymnasiums. To me, that is what state flexibility is about. The cdc made a commitment to us on testing and supply chain. That is the reason we are able to go from 1000 tests a day to close to 3000 tests a day. Accelerated their supply chain it is working for us. Chains arethe supply in a better place than they were. The cdc in the early days, ultimately they validated some tests. Most states had presumed positives. Ase number coming from cdc w ridiculously low. Our state validated tests. Cdcs numbershat are. We dont even use them or track them anymore. Our state and private lab partners provide the daily data on numbers. With the sentiment of my colleagues. The supply chain crosses state and national borders. Regardless of the wasted time early on, michigan has brought on nearly 70 instate laboratories. We cannot be fully utilizing what we created without a consistent, reliable, abundant source of supplies. I think that is the frustration am confidentnd many governors have as well. Testing is crucial to our ability to know how fast covid19 is vast covid19 is in the state. I am running out of time. K each of you weekly how you are modernizing your state labs . Early. Uilt our own lab we made incredible strides on that for us. I am proud of her state lab. They scaled up. State labs are very much aware it is it where it is at. Same here. The cares act funding helped a up theeal to beef infrastructure of our state lab. We are not only increasing testing, building a capacity for in the fall asg we look to live and function in this environment. Thank you. Chair now recognizes congressman kennedy for five minutes. Good to see you. Experts, including the fdaer cdc director, former commissioner have all stated that a robust and increased Contact Tracing capacity will be essential to containing covid19, ensuring communities can resume prepandemic life. Some states were early leaders on that front, launching a new collaboration in early april to establish a Virtual Call Center of 1000 contact tracers. The nation will need as many as 180,000 contact tracers to effectively stem the tide of the virus. We have a long way to go and investments to build this critical workforce. Chairman pallone in the heroes act will expand tracing efforts on the ground. Governor polis, many experts point to robust tracing capacity for containment efforts. Do you think building Contact Tracing workforces in colorado and across the nation is a critical component to your response . Absolutely. A test is only as good as how we can better isolate the individual. There is no proven effective clinical treatment for coronavirus. What most doctors will tell someone who is positive, go home and get better, do not hesitate to be hospitalized. The benefit from testing is twofold, identifying asymptomatic cases and tracing who came in contact with someone who was contagious so we can have targeted isolations of certain people or people who work in a common workplace rather than the societywide quarantines and isolations which are devastating for the economy and our psychological health. That is the goal with increased tracking and tracing. Confronting in order to do this . We know how to do it. One is time. And train turn on people to get them up to speed. We have doubled the number of epidemiologists in the state. The second is money. Some of that is in the cares act and the heroes act. Given the and or missed deficit to state budget the enormous deficit to state budget, we need assistance to do that. Testingtated that a Advisory Group on expanding Contact Tracing. What challenges have you faced in trying to ramp up capacity . Thank you. The team in massachusetts did a good job and setting an example for the nation. In terms of the challenges, there is many. It takes a unique personality to call someone and ask questions about who you have been in contact with over the past few days, and give us that information, and by the way you need to quarantine and we will check with you every day. That takes training to be able to handle those calls. It is a sensitive and critical area. As time goes on, you will get more resistance. We have 250 cases. That could mean close to thousand people will have to isolate or quarantine. That is a huge hit on peoples lives. They will have pushback as we go through this. It is essential to do it. We are utilizing cares act funding to beef that up. We are looking at private contracts. When we get immunization, we will have to scale that quickly. We will be beefing up for thousands of workers. Governor whitmer, curious from your perspective. There are heavy urban parts of your state, rural parts of your state. There . Ve you seen we have to get people to answer the phone. The ability to test and isolate and trace is dependent on people being comfortable to share information and be honest. Paid sick leave would be a helpful thing on top of a robust federal campaign to get people tested and answer the phone lines when we begin tracing. Thank you. I yield back. Chair recognizes congressman mckinley for five minutes. Goingernor whitmer, i am to direct all my questions to you. You can answer those in a followup after that. You have been openly critical in the media of the Trump Administrations response to the pandemic. With all due respect, lets take a hard look at some of the actions the Trump Administration and cdc accomplished in chronological order. On january 7, they established a coronavirus management system. They begin screening at three u. S. Airports. On the 21st, they activated Emergency Operations centers. On january 31, the Trump Administration declared the coronavirus a Public Health emergency. On march 12, the world health covid19ion declared is a pandemic. The following day, the president clearly national emergency. Governor, you hesitated. According to the detroit free press, he waited until march 26 you waited until march 26 to ask for a federal disaster declaration from the president. By march 26, 12 other states have already requested and had been approved for that. Almost 60 michigan residents had died of covid19. A two part question. Governor, do you regret not acting sooner . Secondly, remember that 12 other states acquired disaster declarations. Do you think michigan should have been put ahead of these other states relative to the federal stockpile . Second question, Governor Whitmer. On march 27, utility Radio Station you told a Radio Station that michigan was in trouble getting the equipment they needed because you allege the federal government was telling vendors not to honor the contract they had with michigan. These are serious violations, allegations. Will you were nice will you release the names of those vendors . The third question. According to the Washington Post, more than 25,000 nursing home residents [no audio] least 16day, at nursing home residents have died of covid in michigan, which is about a quarter of your state total. States instituted mandatory testing of nursing home residents and staff. Apparently you did not. Why not, governor . Can you answer those questions please . [no audio] this, the United States lost valuable time in the early days of covid19 when we could have been planning, when there couldve been a National Strategy, when use of the dpa could have been used not but we know in this country that the enemy is not one another, its a virus. The virus doesnt stop at state lines or party lines. We have to band together to address the crisis that has ravished our nation and has killed over 100,000 americans and unemployed 40 million americans. Until we get our arms around the health crisis, the economic crisis will be longer and deeper and that is precisely why they have to get this right. When i went to the media and i was talking about the fact that because the federal government did not have these supplies, we were told to procure them on our own, i started contracting globally. I never imagined i would have to create a Global Procurement office in the middle of my state Emergency Operations, but thats what we did. We were getting calls saying they would be delayed or canceled. I knowledged that publicly. Republican governors have acknowledged the same thing. For whatever reason, i have gotten criticism for raising that but i am not alone in that experience and i would direct you to speak with other governors to acknowledge that when they are pure curing these on our own, we started bidding against one another. Guess who hopped all of the contracting ability . The federal government. Exponential work was happening here but the federal government was where the supplies were getting delayed and distracted to. Thats why a called for help because we one ship worth of pp at that time. The chair now recognizes mr. Ruiz for five minutes. Thank you very much. I appreciate everybody being here today, this is informative and needed. Riverside county which my district resides, the impact of this pandemic has disproportionately and adversely affected vulnerable committees. The immigrant communities. Black and latin individuals are contracting covid19 and to covid19 and dying at rates that are as much as four times greater then the share of the population in the city or the state. My question to the governors joining us today seek to find out what actions your states are taking to increase access to covid19 testing and care for marginalized communities that have taken the brunt of the pandemic. Governor whitmer, in your testimony, you mentioned the staggering disproportionate rate of deaths from covid19 among michiganers. U. S. Tablets the Michigan Coronavirus Task Racial Disparities to study the causes, impacts of covid19 and make recommendations to address these related racial inequities. How will the Task Force Findings and recommendations be incorporated into michigans response for a more equitable system for ensuring access to covid19 testing and care . You. Nor whitmer thank i appreciate the need for that. In light of everything transpiring, its important we talk about the racial and inequities inherent in covid19 and the criminal justice system. I am frankly beyond. That is why i asked the Lieutenant Governor to share the task force that we can get our best minds around the table to understand how to improve outcomes and also taking the lessons from this and using them to drive the policy agenda that we are going to pursue as well. Theres no question covid19 has amplified preexisting social inequities tied to race, class, and access to the Health Care System but we also know communities of color are frequently the ones unable to have the financial luxury to havet dontme access to groceries that have to necessitate trips they just dont have access to neighborhoods that might be safe and very mentally. These are aspects what exactly will the state do to remedy some of these . Know thereitmer we is not an overnight solution but we have gotten the process started including your colleague , congresswoman brenda lawrence, who is a part of the effort. Its important the lessons are taken not just in the moment but an agenda that mends and heals this experience. Governor polis, communities of colors have experienced higher rates of covid19 related deaths. , coloradosimony public response protects the most vulnerable in your state. How does colorado plan to increase access to testing and care for these communities of color and other vulnerable populations by making sure it is affordable and what you believe the federal government could do a better job in helping your state and others address disproportionate impacts in systemic inequities and also Governor Polis, i want to say we miss you on the congressional democratic baseball team. Yournor polis well we miss too, doctor. First of all, we had over 45 Free Community testing sites. It is quick, easy and free. We made clear english and spanish communications. Its available for everybody. We have widely marketed spanishs in english and and limited translation materials in a number of other languages. We had some documents translated into somali. The clear message is it is free, easy and quick to get tested. In addition, we formed a task force on Health Care Disparities and are working closely with toino and black communities identify systemic issues that impacted covid19 as well as in the crisis how we can get better testing and care to minority communities. A very important moment to pause and reflect. In the future, when there are attempts to cut the offices of minority health, defund programs that look at disparities or pipelines that help produce more minority and Public Health experts, many people have said it has detrimental effects on the health of human beings and it is now no more pronounced than in a pandemic seeing that death rates, due to chronic in disparities that we need to address as a nation. Thank you very much. Thank you. The chair recognizes mr. Griffith for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. This ini made accordance with that resolution. I dont care for House Resolution 965, it is important we follow the letter of the regular resolution and regulations promulgated thereunder. Todays hearing or proceeding is not the problem. These witnesses are honest the problem is the regulations the rules chair promulgated are at best clumsy. If we have a witness in the future who intentionally misleads the subcommittee and on a material fact, i. E. Perjurers themselves, as an attorney, i am confident any attorney worth their salt would successfully defend and have their bad actor found not guilty of misleading us for perjury themselves. I implore this committee rewrite the regulations. Read them for what they say. Thank you and i will now go to questions. Governor hutchinson, and a paper released by Committee Republicans on testing and surveillance, we recommended a priority should be testing nursing home and assisted living residents and staff. Whether symptomatic or not. Nursing homes and other Congregate Living Centers account for more than 40 of the covid19 death nationally, even the residents at these even though residents at these facilities represent a fraction of a percentage of the population, it is my understanding you made a pledge to all nursing home residents and staff this month. Can you explain this initiative and how it fits into your testing strategy . Gov. Hutchinson thank you, and i appreciate the Committee Report that emphasized the importance of this, and the reason we are doing it in arkansas is it is the most long vulnerable population. We want to be able to keep them safe, and with the staff going in and out of facilities as necessary, we want them tested, whether theyre symptomatic or asymptomatic, so that is a critical part of it. It will also identify any residents that are positive that we can isolate them and take a protective measure. I think it will be great. What we want to get to is we can once again have people tested and go in and visit a family member. We have to be able to stop having total isolation of somewhat in a nursing home, and to let them come back to be around their loved ones again, and hopefully, through this testing process, we will be able to get there. I appreciate that. I know somebody whos loved one was in a nursing home, had dementia, without their family doourage them, would not therapy, and subsequently within a week or so died after they contacted me about the problems about getting in to encourage them to do their therapy. I know that is important. Has the state established protocols if a resident or employee tests positive to prevent an outbreak . What protocols do you have at this point . Gov. Hutchinson if an employee tests positive, then they are isolated, they are quarantined, and you know, there has been a question as to whether a staff person who tests positive should be able to even treat and work with a positive patient . Early on with desperation, i think that was done in isolated cases, but we got sufficient resources now that that should not be done. That is not the ideal. They are simply isolated. And they should be paid during that time. Every worker who tests positive should not have an obstacle because i might lose 14 days of wages. That is something we need to continue to do. That is a really good point, and i appreciate that. A note on prior testimony, i would point out the defense procurement act was used to give funds to Puritan Medical Products in maine, and they are increasing their swab production by 20 million, so they are doubling it. I think that is important. Would you agree with that, governor . Gov. Hutchinson absolutely. The defense production act has been utilized for the supply chain, and that is been and quietly influenced by the federal government as well as to where the hotspots are and where the priorities are, and i would say the defense production act is being used in terms of the supply chains for food, for poultry, for meat. That is essential. We cannot go to Grocery Stores in this environment and not have sufficient food for people who need that nourishment. President invoked it to support that purpose. I agree and yield back. I think the gentleman in the chair no recognizes now ms. Custer for five minutes. You will need to unmute. I am trying to do two things at once. My apologies. Thank you so much for being with us. I want to thank you. This is not a partisan issue. Give a federal delegation in new hampshire, the republican governor, and we have struggled with all of the issues you talked about with ppe and with testing and supplies. I want to move forward, and an even more dangerous second wave of covid19 along with the flu next fall or winter. Cdc director dr. Redfield has cautioned that a second wave of covid19 can be even more dangerous. Given the burdens that covid19 placed on the nations Health Care Systems, it is my belief we have a very brief window to learn from our past missteps you have outlined regarding supplies, testing, and ppe, and prepare for this second wave. And i wanted to not just with regard to additional testing and care demands on our providers, but also, the vaccinations that we are going to need across our country. Governor whitmer, i would love to ask you in light of the covid19 testing challenges your state has faced, what solutions can be applied in preparation for a potential second wave of the virus to ensure your progress is not undone . Gov. Whitmer congresswoman, thank you for the question. I think that is an important one. I know that while we have been through a tremendously difficult couple of months, a second wave would be even more devastating, and that is why it is important to think about reengagement. That is why i am working with some of the best experts epidemiologists in the country. We are working with a Bipartisan Group of midwestern governors to share information about how we can save our economy. We want to avoid a second wave at all costs and ensuring there is robust access and utilization of flu vaccines and people are not putting off other e four is aey are du critical component of us being a strong as we can going into the fall. It is also that we cannot just flip the switch. We have to turn the dial and incrementally reengage. Until we have a vaccine while widely available, we have to wear a mask and socially distance and be smart. But i think all these pieces are why it is so critical we make a data driven, fact based approach and listen to the science and build up stores of testing and ability to trace. I appreciate that. And particularly your comments about a lack of National Strategy for testing. We definitely need a National Strategy for vaccination. We had troubling testimony from dr. Rick bright and our committee about the lack of National Strategy and planning and preparedness. I want to ask you Governor Polis, as Health Care Providers focus on vaccinations Going Forward, i want to understand if you have Lessons Learned in your state, and particularly, im concerned about that equitable distribution of vaccinations, once they are approved and particularly in lower income communities, Rural Communities, especially in communities of color that we know have been disproportionately impacted by covid19, with a much higher rate of death and how can we be certain that the vaccine, when it becomes available, will be available in an equitable way in communities of color and also Rural Communities in your state and across the country . Gov. Polis the vaccines we have, including the flu vaccine, we are doing a major effort to increase flu vaccine rates. The last thing we want is a resurgence in Covid Patients coupled with flu season that will country to overrunning our hospitals. It is important that we look at prioritizing those were most at risk of covid19. The cdc has current guidelines. Or who is at risk, it is 65 and up and with a number of other criteria they use. In our state, we added one. Pregnant women. , so we addedknow that to the cdc list. Once the list is finalized, that should be the list for who gets vaccinated first. Those who have a much higher hospitalization rate and morbidity rate from covid19 regardless of economic circumstances. The virus does not discriminate. It is based on the attributes, the age, and other features they have. Thank you. The chair now recognizes congresswoman brooks for five minutes. Thank you for being here and for your leadership. I want to build on a little bit talking about a second wave and potentially Opening Schools. Schools obviously had to close this year due to the virus, and while so many students transitioned to online learning, we know the importance of reOpening Schools and getting kids back into schools has to do with making sure they are adequately fed, making sure teachers can report child abuse situations, having the opportunity to interact with their classmates. Can you talk about i will start with you, governor hutchinson, can you talk about your plans to reopen schools, especially with the concern about a potential second wave . And i would like to hear about each of your plans for the reopening, the use of testing, and what your state upon risking and your states game plan is. Governor hutchinson . Gov. Hutchinson thank you, congresswoman. A Perfect Question because, as you point out, for many, the School Environment is the safest environment for a child, and we are really missing something when we do not have the inclassroom instruction. So we are very committed to Opening School next fall for those reasons, as well as that is the best educational tool, and we recognize, though, that there might be a second wave, might be a positive test, so we are making plans for a blended learning environment so that if we have to close for two days for cleaning the school or for other reasons, we can shift very quickly to online instruction for a couple days and then come back to the inclassroom instruction. We are preparing that right now, but we are very committed to having school next year. Then in terms of the testing by the way, the teachers, some of those are going to be vulnerable populations, and they will be a little bit worried about this. We still have to sort through and make sure the teachers have the support they need in that environment. But we are going to have school, testing is a big part of that and Quick Response to testing, tracing that, and were going to have it because it is so critical. Governor, thank you so much. Governor polis, anything different that you and your state are doing . As you know, my son is taught has taught in colorado. Gov. Polis and we appreciate his work here. I expect schools will largely be back in the fall. I use the word largely, because there will be particular communities and neighborhoods where there are outbreaks and there might be temporary measures or some students wanting to start online. As the governor of arkansas indicated, it is also important to know that there will be interruptions in some cases. When there is a sitebased outbreak, kids will have to move to an online format for a period of likely two weeks for the intubation period, people to get tested, and for people to return. Our teachers, principals, superintendents are doing an amazing job under extraordinary circumstances, and they truly would not have been able to do that work without the cares act that you and your colleagues support. I encourage an additional round of support for schools during this very difficult period where they are effectively being asked to create a high degree of things to do in tandem, knowing that by on large the kids are back, but there will be periods of time where they go online temporarily. Thank you. Governor whitmer, my son did his student teaching in michigan. Anything different michigan is planning on doing relative to reopening and to prevent a second wave of covid in the fall, anything different . Gov. Whitmer similar. I would just say this. I would say the decision to take kids out of school, i know it is weighing heavily on both of my colleagues here, as well as governors across the country. The reason my daughter didnt have a graduation ceremony. Thats tough, in my own household. The fact is, the science and the best information we have said that was the right thing to do. We are now in a spot where we are getting a group to come together to promulgate practices for reengagement this fall. That is our hope and plan. It might look differently. We might have to drop class sizes are have different protocols to keep people safe. Like my colleagues said, that is our goal, to resume some sort of inperson instruction in the fall. Congratulations to your daughter. Gov. Whitmer thank you. Thank you. I recognize congresswoman castor for five minutes. Thank you to the governors for joining us today. I want to ask a few questions about transparency in the testing plans and in the data reporting. We all understand the key to safely reOpening Schools and our businesses is going to be that widespread Rapid Testing with a diligent focus on our vulnerable neighbors, like in Skilled Nursing centers. After the administration failed to play that coordinating real early on with testing, testing supplies, Congress Passed bipartisan direction, spearheaded by a lot of folks on this committee, to develop, direct hhs and the administration to do a better job in developing a National Testing strategy in partnership with states and local communities. It requires states to report a testing plan back to hhs. It provides resources to stay to help with that. I would like to know, with each did each of you submit your testing, details to hhs, and did you publicly release that . Gov. Hutchinson i can start. Submitted we the answer is yes. We submitted a coordinated testing plan, and i will have to check as to whether that has been posted on the website, but we certainly are transparent about that. We announce our goals continually as to what we want to do testingwise, and that will be part of it. Governor polis . Gov. Polis yes, we did submit that last friday. We have offered to make our plan public. I do not know whether it has been made public yet or not. But we will do that. Gov. Whitmer same for michigan, yes, we did. Did you release it to the public . Gov. Whitmer not sure if it is on the website. I am going to double check right now. Ok, because there is some consternation because the hhs, as i understand it, does not intend to release those tells details publicly, so we are going to have to count on the states to be transparent. I trust that you are doing that, but we have had some other problems in the reporting of Public Health data across the country, and i would like to get your advice on how we standardized that data. For example, here in the state of florida, early on we had resistance at the state level on reporting infections in Nursing Homes, and we had medical examiner data that was redirected by the state, but we have strong public records in florida that they are not allowed to do that, so they changed their tune. Just last week, there was a story in politico, they ran an article that highlighted the fact that bad state data, coronavirus threat as a trump pushes reopening your they quoted an excerpt from Columbia University that sums it up. All these stories about undercount, overcomes, missed counts are undermining our ability to deal with this pandemic. The country, he says, is confronting an unheardof level of chaos in the data, protocols, and the information. Would you share with me any challenges you have had in the reporting of data, and what do you need from congress to improve the collection and reporting of data and working with us to make sure it is standardized from state to state so we have a true picture and are able to make informed decisions . Gov. Whitmer i will jump in. I absolutely support that goal. I think the frustration the general public and governors have alike as well as members of congress is making sure we have good, accurate, Realtime Data. The data simply around testing right now is very confusing. Some states it is serology tests, but others like michigan are only doing the cover 19 covid19 diagnostic testing in our data. That is just one of a plethora of examples of how it is different across the nation. An additional challenge is, of course, we have local Public Health departments, so i have had to issue a number of executive orders requiring that local hospitals and departments are sharing Realtime Data with the state. It is a challenge. I think direction and articulation from the federal government, along with Additional Support to ensure we can get this done, would go a long way toward really assessing where we are as a country and where we want to be. Gov. Polis yeah, i certainly agree with that. You look at our extensive reporting about covid19 online, i think all the states, certainly colorado, i was very disappointed initially with the level of data i had as governor. We now have a lot more data, data on Racial Disparities, data on who died of covid versus just who had covid and also died of a comorbidity, we have data on who gets released from hospitals, all areas that we lacked initially that we have now. But we did it on our own and i think the other governors did it on their own. I do not think it is the kind of standardization that we might like comparing apples to apples in all states across the data. Gov. Hutchinson i agree with that. Hospitalization is a big example, those electronically reported in arkansas, but i do not know that that is the same nationally, and the other challenge is in the commercial labs. The commercial labs, of course, we get delayed data, could be two days, could be however long it takes them to get the test results back, and then sometimes we only get if it is a positive test back and we do not get all the negative information. So that transferred information to our Public Health system is too slow and not sufficient data. Thank you. Chair now recognizes mr. Duncan for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair. I would like to yield my time. The gentleman is recognized. And timnk the chairman duncan for yielding me some time. Governor back to hutchinson. It is good to see you here. I spent a lot of time at the. Iver trout fishing let me just ask this question as a governor, and i could ask into the other two, as well. Why shouldnt the federal government be responsible for funding the actions of the state which are specifically not delegated to the government . Gov. Hutchinson well, thank you, congressman, and come back and fish the white river anytime. In terms of the authority between the federal government and the states, you know, i think it has been a fair balance appeared we can all complain a little slow early on, but, my goodness, in 90 days, we ramped up the supply chain for one of the most massive investments in production on Health Care Supplies that we have seen in history. But in terms of the funding side of it, i like the flexibility that has been given to the states. It has been federal support with state flexibility. You know, federal guidelines where the state can manage it. And i like that. I like the fact we have that flexibility. If you look at all the trendlines in the states for the pandemic, every one of those is different. You do not see it mirrored. Even within the state, you see different trendlines in the different regions. We would like to be able to have to flexibility. Governor polis, good to see you again. Gov. Polis thank you. The reality is that when there is an emergency, we all rise to the occasion, whether it is an emergency like hurricane katrina, whether it is fires in california, in colorado, we rally together. The unique nature of this emergency is we are in a state emergency for the first time in our history, as to my understanding, in all 50 states in the nation and the territories. We need cooperation between the federal governments and state governments. Put in a sense, it is no different than how we have always come together in National Crises and emergencies. Governor whitmer . N your mic gov. Whitmer thank you, congressman. I concur with what my colleagues said. I would just recognize the incredible challenges states are confronting right now are real and it is universal. We in michigan have about a 3 billion hole in the budget, and it is bigger in next years budget. And where the bulk of state budgets are, we know it is Public Health, Public Safety, and public education, all of which are incredibly important in a global pandemic. Is somebody else on . Everybody needs to mute except the people talking. We can give three seconds back there. Governor whitmer, how much of the federal stimulus money that michigan has received so far has your Administration Spent . Gov. Whitmer a great question, congressman. I know i have the answer right here. At this juncture, i want to reiterate first how grateful we are for the support that we have gotten. Some of the federal funding that has come to michigan, we have spent a total of if you look at provider relief funds, 900 million for hospitals, 326 million for rural Health Care Providers, 1. 2 billion for disaster loans, loans approved, 16,000 of them. Those are moneys you have spent or received . Gov. Whitmer moneys made available to michigan businesses, hospitals via congressional relief legislation. I guess the question i have, the 3. 2 billion icy michigan has received, quite a bit of it has not been spent yet and im wondering why they havent. Gov. Whitmer you know what, i am happy to follow up with you to give you a full accounting of each of the expenditures paid out to the people of michigan so you have got that. Thank you. I look forward to that. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. The chair will now recognize congressman tonko for five minutes. You need to unmute. We still do not hear you. Can you hear me now . Yes. Thank you. Ok. Thank you, chair. And Ranking Member, for what is a very, very important topic, and thank you for all the information that people have exchanged. Since the onset of the covid19 outbreak, states have faced immense challenges in obtaining testing supplies and critical medical equipment such as swabs, masks, gowns, and gloves are the. The Trump Administration has left states to battle each other for scarce supplies, rather than leading a centralized national effort. States have been forced to outbid each other for medical equipment while scrambling to find new suppliers, leading to higher prices, costly delays, inefficient allocations, and widespread confusion. Governor polis, it is good to see you. Can you describe the challenges colorado has faced when competing against other states for critical medical supplies . Gov. Polis we have to compete against Global Demand for ppe and for testing. It is to be expected that we compete against other nations. But the surprise element is competing against other states and sometimes even our own federal government. As a nation, all 50 states in and territories really need to be able to coordinate in a more effective way. Local distribution, local autonomy, but coordination with regard to acquisition so we are not costing one another more by bidding up prices in competition with one another. Are there other things of the federal government could better support in regard to state efforts to procure medical supplies and ensure that some of these mistakes are not repeated . Gov. Polis yeah, i think we should have a lot of learning from this and really make sure we have a way where there is a transparent way of distributing protective equipment to the states and a collective way where we can know what we are getting, when we are going to get it, and coordinated purchasing with the advantages of the scale of the federal level and advantages of us not being against one another and ultimately get a worse deal for taxpayers. Thank you. Governor whitmer, welcome. Your testimony also identified hurdles your state has faced in obtaining medical supplies. I will quote from your testimony, the lack of centralized coordination of the federal level created a counterproductive competition between states and the federal government to secure limited supplies, driving up prices and exacerbating existing shortages. Governor, is the lack of a centralized federal coordination effort still limiting michigans ability to reliably secure medical supplies today . Gov. Whitmer yes, and i will just talk about one very simple piece of the test, which is the swab. Swabs are absolutely essential to conduct the test we have the capacity to do about 25,000 tests a day, but we do not hit that capacity because we need that item. The federal government has offered, and we are grateful for the commitment to send us these materials, but often times the shipments do not reflect what we expect or the diversity of types of swabs that we need. I talk about swabs so much, i never thought i would be focused on such a simple instrument, yet each of these different covid tests use different types of swabs. So when we expect 180,000 swabs, diverse swabs, and we get 180,000 foam swabs, we are grateful for those, but it means we cannot do the test that required the other type of swabs. I have talked to counterparts, some of whom have literally gotten qtips, which are unusable in the covid19 tests and they are being counted as swabs. That is not in michigan, thankfully, and were grateful for those swabs, but we need that kind of robust diversity in the implements so we can live up to the opportunity to hit at 25,000 capacity. So until there is a centralized procurement and allocation with realtime information about what is coming so we can do our planning, it is going to be hard for us to hit those numbers that we all know are necessary to understand how fast covid19 is so we can prevent the spread. Thank you so much to my governor. It is obvious states were essentially left to fend for themselves, fighting for limited medical supplies with little federal help. I believe the Trump Administration must provide leadership to ensure every state is able to secure medical supplies it desperately needs, which is why i have consistently urged this administration to make robust use of the defense production act. As we move forward, the mistakes of these last few months simply cannot be repeated. With that, madam chair, i yield back. Thank you, gentlemen. The chair now recognizes sarbanes for fivebra minutes. Thank you very much, madam chair. Can you hear me . Yes, we can. Thank you. I want to thank the governors on the call today. Thank you for the work you are doing, very much on the frontline of this pandemic. My question is about Antibody Testing, because obviously it has a certain allure to it, this notion that people can discover whether they got the infection, have overcome it and are now in a more robust, potentially immune position, so it is a very appealing concept, but the centers for Disease Control and i think a lot of others in the Public Health arena are being very cautious about the deployment of it and reliance on it. But it must be something that is getting discussion on your teams as governors, and you must be looking at it and trying to figure out, is there an appropriate role, and at what point will you feel that the Antibody Testing that is available has reached a level of reliance that you want to make it part of your strategy, if you have not done that already. As we head into the reopening, there is certainly a role to be played by Antibody Testing if that can be done, again, responsibly. So i would love to get your take, because i know there is some nervousness, and appropriately so, about it, and i also know, frankly, that it is getting deployed in a very uneven fashion, not just from official sources but medical folks out there who have access to some of these tests and are providing them. So if you can speak on that, and maybe we will start with Governor Whitmer and then go to Governor Polis and then governor hutchinson. Gov. Whitmer sure, i appreciate the question. I think it is really important. Serology testing is going to be an incredible longterm asset. Right now we have a number of academic partners in michigan working to develop serology studies so that we can assess the prevalence of covid19 in the state, given the capabilities and current limitations on testing, our experts are telling us it is most appropriate to identify individuals who had a covid19 infection at some point in giving them the test so we can really study the efficacy of serology. We believe that this will be a critical component of a longterm strategy, and we are hopeful that, as these tests improve in their efficacy, we can use them widely. Thank you. Governor polis . Gov. Polis to be clear, the priority for testing now is who is contagious now, who has active viral count now, and how do we isolate them. The serology has significant medium and longterm benefits, but the biggest ones depend on the emerging scientific body of knowledge around what degree of protection antibodies provide and how long they provide that protection for. There needs to be general Scientific Consensus that there is additional protection that is conferred by antibodies, but it is a big unknown and makes a major difference in terms of the impact on who has had it and who has not. Is it 70 protection, 99 protection . Does it last three months, last six month . These are the unknown factors that we expect science to answer in the coming weeks and months. Meantime, that limits the impact of knowing whether people have had it or not. The second factor with problems, is there a number of lowquality high error rate serological testing out in the marketplace . I think the marketplace is beginning to sort itself out. The higher quality, validated methods of Antibody Testing are now being used, but there are still some results out there from unreliable tests. Governor hutchinson, i will give you a chance to respond, as well. Gov. Hutchinson i agree with the comments of my fellow governors. We have taken the approach that this is critical probably for the fall. We are already starting to invest in that at the university of Arkansas Medical Sciences to develop an antibody test, but we believe that the scientific body of knowledge will improve. We think the costs will go down, so we want to wait for the right time, to have the right technology and the best science before we really go fullblown with that, so it is a part of the future, but it is not the shortterm future. Right now we are concentrating on the covid test. I appreciate that, and i think we are all right to be somewhat cautious about this. Does have great promise for our strategy and response to the pandemic. I think the emphasis remains on diagnostic tests and making sure that is widely available and supported as possible with all the different means and supplies that need to go with the effort so i appreciate the testimony you have all given with respect to the needs further diagnostics and we will continue to emphasize that as well. I yield back. I think that gentlemen. Chair recognizes congressman peters for five minutes. Rep. Peters i want to thank the governors for being here. Governor hutchinson, your testimony highlighted how your state has successfully used federal funds from the cares act to provide 140 7 million to for suppliesnesses and needed to reopen safely. A governoren both and in congress. From the other side of the aisle , i will ask you, what do you think are the most effective ways for states to be collaborating with the federal government on the state response, and what would you like to see more of from the federal government that you havent seen . Governor hutchinson thank you for the question. I do hope that when it comes to the vaccine, that we all hopefully get before the end of the year as soon as possible, that we do have Good National guidelines that will help us and will have to guide the distribution of those vaccines. That is an important part of it. Terms of the cares act, the flexibility in states is good and they need to give us more flexibility to help cities and counties with funding. That is a gap we have. I hope that can be addressed. A question was asked before about how we use cares act funding. We actually do intentionally want to reserve part of that for the fall because there will be emergencies that come up. We do want to be able to save some of that for emergencies. Thank you governor. I want to ask Governor Whitmer, thank you for your work and leadership. Just so you know, i am originally from southfield, so i am a michigander. In your testimony, you mentioned you encountered transparency issues when dealing with the federal government on testing supplies, and said this could be easier if a more detailed breakdown was provided and they were shipped at a regular cadence. This is different than state versus state, its about knowing whats coming. Of you elaborate on the lack transparency surrounding supplies that affected the state some specificts, areas you would like to see Greater Transparency from the federal government . Gov. Whitmer thank you. Southfield crowd. I just wanted to highlight, i gave the you were making southfield crowd. Proud. Just wanted to highlight, i gave the example of the swab shipment that we were expecting. We are grateful, and i always would to start with that, for every ounce of support that we have gotten. The issue i think that has made it hard for us to hit our goals is that when we are expecting shipments, they do not request what we are planning for. So we find when they get here that it is very different, so we have to rearrange the plan and it undermines our ability to execute appointments. Really it is about making sure accurate ins are terms of what we are expecting at that the cadence is predictable. We have been promised a number of things, and 90 of it has come, but not at the right cadence and what has come was a than wedifferent expected, so it has been challenging for us to execute and do these diagnostic testings we knew we need to do. That is what i am referring to when i made those comments. I think a lot of us are frustrated that this stockpiling and Domestic Production has not been robust enough to deal with Something Like this. We heard years ago we should expect this. It seems very simple to be clear about what is coming and not coming. That is a frustration for a lot of folks that information does not cost anything, organization doesnt cost anything, we should be doing a better job at the federal level. We certainly should ask that from the administration. Governor polis, im running out of time, but i want to say thank you for your leadership. I noticed how you have struggled with the pressures of reopening, but you have stuck to the science and allowed your state to be flexible based on conditions across the state. We are seeing some of that in california as well. We can talk more at length about the federal governments support of you in the future, but i wish you a lot of luck and thank you for being here today. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. Governor hutchinson, we know you have to leave, and we really appreciate your presence today. Have any final words for us, what we can do to help your state as a congress Going Forward . Gov. Hutchinson thank you for your courtesies today and thank you for the bipartisan way in which you are looking at this Important National issue. In terms of the future, i would urge everyone to look at the future and what we could do to get it right. There will be a time we have to rehash all of this and learn about gettingts ready for the fall and working together for it. Thank you very much for the opportunity today. Thank you, governor. We look forward to working with you, too. We are now pleased to be joined by several members of the full committee who are not members of the oversight and investigation subcommittee. Im happy to go to them. First we are going to recognize a congressman who has been waiting patiently for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much, madam chair. I thank you, Ranking Member and the governors. It has takenble this time since 11 00 to be here. I have some questions for the governors. With regards to the unemployment , that of course, the state has a set amount, every state has a set amount, and then of course we get the additional 600 from the federal government under the cares program, as you know. I know we are having some trouble with our Small Businesses actually getting former employees back who are on unemployment. I know the state actually controls this. There is a mechanism on the books so that the employer would request that the employee come back to work and if they do come back to work, i understand they are eligible for employment not eligible for the employment benefits. And we can start with Governor Whitmer. Is that being enforced in your particular state of michigan . Gov. Whitmer one of the things we have done to ensure that we made use of all of the cares act dollars, the extra 600. We have been able to meet the point 6 over one million workers in michigan. Historic unemployment israel. But is real. One of the great things that we have available to us is the workshare program. It is one of the best programs that has been embraced, and this is an opportunity to provide an benefits to make up for lost wages in the event workers are not back at full capacity, to meet that gap in pay. It has been something that has for a winwin for workers the state as we get fewer unemployment. Right now we have over 700 businesses taking advantage, 50,000 employees benefiting. The business can retain their workforce at a lesser level, but pay them as well as they were before. This is something that has been a good tool. I know there are more than 20 that havent done Something Like this and its a way we can get people back into the workforce as businesses are coming back online. Governor polis . Gov. Polis i would just add that for people who are at risk, if they are 65 and up in the workforce or have a preexisting condition, they should not necessarily yet return to many places to a job with interactions with the general public. We want to make provisions where they are able to, if you are is appropriate, or if they get reassistance reassigned to positions that does not interface with the public, and for those who have added risk, it is important that we make every possible accommodation. I really appreciate the bill that was passed in the house to frombusinesses flexibility eight weeks to 24 weeks. I think this is a problem and we want to make sure and protect future employees as well, because the current law says july 31, the unemployment runs out, so i just want to make sure states are enforcing the laws on the books that make sure if they are able employees and they can work, that they have to get back to work instead of collecting unemployment benefits. I have another question for the governors. The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement included 11 billion for states and local governments for purposes related to the covid19 testing including support for use by employers or in other settings. Are you planning to use any of the funds that your state receives under this provision to help employers with expenses related to the covid19 testing . We will start off with Governor Polis, since i can see you. Gov. Polis a lot of that is going to the critical Covid Response as was the intent of congress. A lot of those costs are being borne by county health departments, municipalities. Congress directly allocated money to the very largest of the municipalities and a few counties that were very large, yet many of the smaller counties also have those expenses. Additional eligible expenses were incurred by our schools, by our community colleges, and we are prioritizing those that have been in the front line of the expenses with regard to the covid19 response. Governor whitmer, please . Gov. Whitmer i think that i would echo what Governor Polis just said. The chairmans time has expired. The chair recognizes congresswoman dingell for five minutes. Unmute, deb. I want to thank all of you for being here today. I know the hour is getting late and you have Better Things to do, but its really important because this is the first time the house has really heard from the governors. I want to ask you a broader question because we all need to know this. I know from my governor i love you, chair, but i talked to are inrnor a lot they desperate need for more relief. I want to hear from both of you, but shes working with the state legislature on critical budget needs now. Can you talk about the urgent need for more funding for the states, the counties and the cities to make up for lost revenue, and what would happen if congress does not provide you with more direct relief to the states and the counties and cities . Forgive me, i will go to my governor first. But you are handsome. [laughter] we can agree on that. Thats unanimous. I appreciate the question. Covid19 has wreaked have it on our test havoc on our state budget. Its a crisis unlike anything we have seen before. Its all associated with the Public Health crisis. Nga toworking with the that congress understands the plight we are all confronting. The numbers show that we need flexibility, we need Additional Support if we are going to continue saving lives and reengage our economy and provide Critical Services to people of our state. Need the federal goal federal Government Partnership here. We need additional flexibility and additional resources. None of us would want the people who stayed on the frontline to put themselves in harm of and harms way. When the biggest parts of our budget are consumed by Public Health, Public Safety and public education, those are the frontline heroes that we want to support. Obviously the health of our economy depends on us being able to balance these budgets so we can continue to make the right decisions for the right reasons in our states all across the country. Thank you. We were certainly grateful for the health and cares act. I honestly dont know where we would be to address these anonymous response costs that our local agency has from the cares act money. We would be extremely appreciative of the health and human heroes act reaching the president s desk. It is very challenging for states. Unlike the federal government, we have a balancedbudget requirement and we are not able to borrow. We have anonymous cutbacks at a time when many colorado families could afford it for weeks. Necessary social services, a social net. Medicaid expansion would be in jeopardy. Its really a critical time for the federal government to step up, protect the most vulnerable and protect the future by supporting our schools. For that answer. We dont have that much time, but i am very worried about the return. Masks,are not wearing they are not keeping distance and they are not listening to what you are saying and what doctors are saying. I am very worried about the lack of ppe equipment. We have several weeks supply, but we have another spike, im worried for what would happen in the country. What do you both think Congress Needs to be doing right now to this . Repare for we are not even through the first wave. Theres areas of the country, and areas of colorado that have an increase in have outbreaks for a couple of weeks. Most of our states are going down. But a couple of areas are going up. The first wave is not over. Overall trends are getting better, but its still on the uptick in a number of places. Mask wearing is critical. Now only mask wearing, but those who serve in congress, i model mask wearing. I want to protect myself and my family. But i also want to model it for the general public. Fielding social distancing. I applaud the United States congress for doing that and not putting your staff at risk for doing it the oldfashioned way and putting everybody in a room. We are able to have this conversation while being safe. Our state legislator is taking similar actions as well. I know we are out of time, i think what was articulated very well, is that we need to not let our guard down. We have to learn to live with covid19 and change our culture around how we personally conduct ourselves. It starts with mask wearing and continues with social distancing. The medically heres a look at our live coverage on wednesday. Rob rosenstein testifies before the Senate Judiciary committee as part of the investigation into the fisa process. That is followed by the confirmation hearing for the white house budget director. , jim clyburn speaks with Washington Post about Race Relations and the protests over the death of george floyd. The senate is back at 10 00 to consider executive and judicial nominations. On cspan3 at 9 00 eastern, nomination for the members picked to serve as the u. S. Postal Service Board of governors. And now, Bloomberg Government hosted a discussion on the coronavirus pandemic and legislative priorities for 2020. They talk about several topics including the future of the u. S. Postal service and 5g technology, but primarily primarily focus on the coronavirus and what another round of stimulus legislation such could look like. This is about one hour